Linden policeman creating noise nuisance

In your Friday Nov 27th edition there is a heading: ‘Alleged cop assault on Paradise fisherman being probed’ where it tells about a policeman who allegedly struck one Amar Zaban, 23 years old, on his head with a beer bottle, kicked him when he fell down blacking him out. Zaban received several stitches to his head and was admitted to the hospital, all because he was in the company of a girl. Then on page six under the letter column the heading reads: ‘Corentyne resident mistreated by policeman,’ which related a troubling story of another young man, Andrew Lewis, a Skeldon estate worker, who was riding home one night after work and was followed by a policeman in a car who stopped him and ordered him off his bicycle in an aggressive manner; pushed his hands into his pocket, took away his wages, seized his haversack, took away his chain and cell phone breaking the screen in the process, placed his bicycle in the car trunk all while accusing him of break and enter. While in the car the youngster was threatened, cuffed in the head and behind the neck repeatedly before he was taken to the police station where he was placed in a cell for some twelve hours. As reported it was not until the following day before his relatives were informed.

Editor, every time I read or hear about this kind of behaviour by policemen, the words of Barrington Braithwaite come to mind: “The system had captured troubled, unbalanced personalities and created soulless … [beings] out of them… This is only the tip of the iceberg, from what I learnt later about the disturbed personalities and troubled background of some of those police groups”. Is this kind of behaviour a permanent fixture embedded in the Guyana Police Force? What is so wrong with this state organization? Can’t they ever come clean? Old government, new government, makes no difference; same old same old.

Definitely there has to be another way that requires much more than just training and qualifications; once they have taken an oath, then whenever one is found guilty of stepping over the line of duty, there should be a severe penalty. Like I always say, one cannot violate the law to enforce the law, for this is exactly what creates anarchy.

Now dear reader, please pay attention to this damning behaviour by a policeman in Linden. This policeman whose duty it is to assist in maintaining harmony in the community drives around with a powerful sound system in his car blasting to the heavens beyond the range of permitted decibels, disrespecting the entire community. The large speaker boxes are placed near the windows. It matters not where he goes, be it night or day, hospital, schools, library, or church; he even drives into the station compound with his music blaring! Everyone keeps asking about his status and connections, and the reason for such pompous behaviour since he pays no one any mind. And don’t tell me that the Commander of this division doesn’t know; he has to! No matter where he lives, he has to hear, it is that loud. But as I recall, I wrote about this policeman and his obnoxious behaviour before; when he was stationed here at Linden some time before he was doing the exact same thing, ensconced behind windscreens darker than the darkest night. So here we go again, looks like he is back with his damning behaviour. Maybe the chief citizen of the town ‒ the Mayor – though his office may have to have a word with the Commander. This is nothing short of confounded disrespect. How can we ever expect a people friendly police-community relationship?